diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
index 0c7893b81977..605212c75bfb 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
@@ -3523,6 +3523,9 @@ class Show(ShowBase):
             def mainloop(self):
                 return cls.mainloop()
 
+        if not hasattr(sys.modules[cls.__module__], "Backend"):
+            setattr(sys.modules[cls.__module__], "Backend", cls)
+
         setattr(sys.modules[cls.__module__], "Show", Show)
         return cls
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
index 45e40feeef54..67e27a9c85ff 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
@@ -269,8 +269,16 @@ def switch_backend(newbackend):
 
     backend_name = cbook._backend_module_name(newbackend)
 
-    class backend_mod(matplotlib.backend_bases._Backend):
-        locals().update(vars(importlib.import_module(backend_name)))
+    backend_mod = importlib.import_module(backend_name)
+    if hasattr(backend_mod, "Backend"):
+        backend_mod = backend_mod.Backend
+    else:
+        class backend_mod(matplotlib.backend_bases._Backend):
+            locals().update(vars(backend_mod))
+
+            @classmethod
+            def mainloop(cls):
+                return backend_mod.Show().mainloop()
 
     required_framework = _get_required_interactive_framework(backend_mod)
     if required_framework is not None: